Seattle’s gigabit internet plans rocked by problems, mayor claims

Seattle’s plans for its own gigabit internet service have run into a few obstacles, if outgoing mayor Mike McGinn has anything to say about it. McGinn has cast doubt over the plans he put into motion himself, which would see the service extended to 12 Seattle neighborhoods by March 2014. In an interview with Seattle-based IT publication GeekWire, McGinn claimed that Gigabit Squared, the company looking after the project, has failed to raise the funds needed to get it going, and that the city might need to base the service off tax dollars. Neither incoming mayor Ed Murray nor Gigabit Squared have confirmed McGinn’s allegations, though the latter’s claims should be taken with a pinch of salt considering how he accused his successor of not showing any support for his pet project.